Adjustable metatarsal shoe shank



R. L. MARTEAU ET AL IADJUSTXABLE METATARSAL SHOE SHANK Filed April 17. 1922 INVENTORS RALPH L. MAR rsnu GEORGE A. SCHROETER ATTORNEY provide a Patented @ec 131, 1823.

UNITED STATE aerate career @FFHQE.

RALPH L. MAB/BEAU AND GEORGE A. SCHROETER, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK.

ADJUSTABLE METATARSAL SHOE SHARK.

Application filed April 17,1922. Serial No. 554,168.

T0 @223 whom it may concern:

Be it known that RALPH L. MAa'rnAU and GEORGE A. ScHRoErER, citizens of the United States, residing at Brooklyn, New York, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Adjustable Metatarsal Shoe Shanks, of which the following is a specification.

Our invention relates to a type of shoe construction for the corrective treatment of the foot particularly the metatarsal arch thereof, and it is the special object of our invention to provide an adjustable metatarsal shoe shank.

Our invention is simple in construction and is of such nature that it can be at once utilized by shoe manufacturers universally without any expensive changes in lasts, or other equipment, and one WlllCl'l is simple in construction and cheaply manufacture A further object of our invention is to shoe shank which though permanently secured nevertheless can be readi y lengthened or shortened or otherwise adjusted to meet the individual conditions of the articular foot it is to accommodate. A

urther object of our invention is the provision of an adjustable metatarsal shoe shank which forms an integral part of the shoe.

A further object of our invention is to provide an adjustable metatarsal shoe shank which is so designed and constructed as to support the anterior metatarsal arch and to elevate such bones thereof as may be desired to be elevated, while at the same time roviding means whereby either the first or iifth metatarsal bones or both rest on the insole and so carry out their proper function as hearing points of the foot at the ball thereof.

Our invention may be best understood by reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

Fig. 1 is a top view of an inner sole of a shoe provided with our invention.

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of an innersole of a shoe provided with our invention.

Fig. 3 is a perspective view showing the underside of our invention when lifted in order to make adjustments.

Fi 4 is a detail sectional view taken on the hnes 44 of Fig. 3 and showing the arrangement and assembly of those portions of a shoe with which our invention is integral.

- otherwise fixed between the innersole 10 and welt 11 (or if no welt at the heel then between innersoe 10 and outersole of the shoe) from points 14 around the heel to 15, 16 is the free flap portion of 12. 16 is made of a double layer of leather or other suitable material and by means of stitching (or otherwise, as by cement) the two layers comprising 16 are joined completely around the periphery thereof. 17 is a slit or opening on the underside or other suitable location of the flap 16 by means of which opening a pocket 18 is formed in the flap 16. In this pocket 18 may be introducedsuitable means for supporting the second, third and fourth or the third, fourth, and fifth or any other. combination or series of bones of the anterior metatarsal arch desired. It will be apparent that by se'ecting a suitably shaped lnsert for this pocket the particular foot can be properly accommodated to meet a so called short vamp 0r long vamp condition as the case may be. If the particular foot requires a long vamp shoe then the metatarsal arch is relatively nearer to the heel and an additional row of stitching may be introduced at the front end 19 of the flap thereby shortening the same and in this event the insert in pocket 18 wi l be limited to the new seam atits forward end, shown particularly in Fig. 6.

' If, however, the foot to be accommodated requires a short vamp shoe then the metatarsal arch is nearer to the toes and it is desirable to leave the forward end of the flap 16 and the forward end of pocket 18 therein as near to the toe as the condition of the foot requires. In any event we have by using .our invention at once an adjustable metatarsal shoe shank wherein the support for the metatarsal bones is definitely fixed in suitable position and cannot move from side to side or from heel to toe as is the condition found in the arch supports now upon the market.

20 and 21are oppositely disposed cut out constructions which form an important feature of the invention. It will be noted that at the ball of the, foot is the anterior metatarsal arch the first and fifth heads of which form the base of the arch and the bearing points of the foot at this point. It is therefore, essential and necessary under normal conditions to have these bones i. e., the first and fifth, rest upon the innersole of the shoe while the other bones ofthis arch are supported and elevated as above described by the insert 22 introduced in pocket 18. In conditions similar to that known as Mortons toe either the-first or the fifth bone and not both is to rest upon the innersole and in such event only one cut out portion maybe desirable as shown by dotted line 23 Fig. 1.

The particularly desirable feature of our invention is the fact that the same can be utilized in factory made shoes on any of the lasts now in common use by manufacturers. If the particular purchaser of a pair of shoes containing our invention, has no need of adjustment of the shoe or metatarsal arch to meet his type of foot, then the shoe may be used as bought WllLhOllll any adjustments being made and our inventionis so thin and lies so flat upon the insole that it acts merely as a cushion for the foot in that event.

On the other hand should the purchaser need foot treatment, the particular shoe he shank, the said inlet comprising a transverse slot extending between points short of opposite edges of the pocket, and a supporting member insertable in said pocket through the said slot and adapted to be held beneath the anterior metatarsal arch of the foot.

2. A shoe having an upper, a sole secured thereto and a flap member fastened at its rear end to the sole and upper and otherwise unsecured, and arranged to provide an ac cessible shank pocket to receive an insert, the flap member extending tothe ball line, but provided at the sides of its forward end with suitable cut-out portions for the accommodation of bearing points of the foot v at the ball line.

In testimony whereof, RALPH L. MAR'I'EAUY and GEORGE A, SCHROETER have signed their names to this specification, this 7th day of April 1922.

. RALPH L. MARTEAU.

'GEORGE A. SCHROETER. 

